Death of an Old Criminal
by Fire Tiggeress
Summary: After the war the dead men join in Vals house. While recuperating from injuries and the like, they are approached by a group asking if they wanted to help them save some people. It just so happens that siad leader of the group is a person from Decters past. (Some character last are alive that shouldn't be blah blah blah - enjoy and review:))
1. chapter 1

**I own nothing it all belongs to dearest Derek Landy**

Dexter sat on the stairs outside Valkyries home at 2 in the morning , it used to be Gordon's but Val inherited it. It was about two weeks after the war and they had all moved into her house because it was big enough. Everyone in the house was feeling rather depressed that day due to the release of the amount of people killed during the war. It had shocked them all to the core, especially Valkyrie.

He couldn't believe Erskine Ravel, an old and trusted ex-friend, had betrayed them and tried to kill Ghastly and Anton. They were still recovering from their wounds and it hurt Dexter everytime he looked at the scars because he had trusted that man with his life and the lives of those he cared about. God he wished Ravel was alive so he could kill him personally.

He continued to smoke his cigarette, a habit he'd picked up after being sold due to stress, and thought about the nothings of general life.

His mind wandered and took him to thoughts of his past, thoughts of his childhood, his abusive mother and the tortures he and his little sister had to endure. He didn't know if she was alive, if she had escaped or if she had been sold like he had. It broke his heart to think of what she could be enduring at the hands of Neachan, his mother.

Dexter looked down and his left forearm, where a massive, lumpy scar mutilated his skin. It was the last injury he revived from his mother as a 'brand' of her ownership before he was sold. Luckily he was bought by a gentleman who taught him everything he needed to know about his powers. Dexter would never forget him, just as he would never forget his sister, Torn Venite.

Dexter flicked his cigarette butt into the ashtray on the step beside him, kissed the necklace that Torn had given him, she had the exact same one, and turned to go into the house to take a nap. He figured he should sleep at some point .

Xxxx

Valkyrie had woken up screaming again. Like the rest of the house, she had nightmares, possibly worse than the others did because of Darquesse.

She was wiping the tears from her face when she heard a quiet knock on her door before Dexter entered and came to sit beside her. He took one look at her face before he swept her up into a hug holding her to his naked chest.

Just as she was drifting off to sleep Skulduggery poked his head around the door and, since she wasn't quite asleep yet, Valkyrie glanced up and stared at him then burst into another onslaught of tears.

 _'So the nightmare was about him'_ Dexter thought as he stood up and let Skulduggery go to her instead.

Dexter left the room with the intention of going back over to his room a few doors down but something stopped him at the stairs. He heard the floorboards creak in the room beneath him and, not one for taking any chances, summoned his purple energy in to a hand and slowly padded down the stairs.

Dexter peeked around the corner and saw a shadow - A Saracen sized shadow. He smiled. Dexter sauntered into the room letting his energy disappate and went to stand beside Saracen, who had a large glass of whiskey in his hand and was swaying slightly, obviously drunk.

For all the confidence Saracen had, very few knew that he was affected by the wars too, more than he let on. Dexter was one of the few who had seen Saracen break. He had been there when he was crying, when he was screaming, when he was throwing things around the room, and talking to figures who weren't there. Dexter knew that Saracen was affected by this just as much as everyone else.

Dexter took the glass from Saracen and sat him on the sofa before going and getting blankets, a pillow and a large glass of water along with some painkiller leaves. Dexter lay Saracen down and sat on the other sofa with a book to keep his best friend company.

An hour later Dexter looked up from his book to see that Saracen had fallen asleep and had managed to throw a cover onto the floor. Dexter smiled, much like a parent would over a child, and stood up and stretched his aching muscles. He picked up the blanket and covered his friend once more whispering, "Sweet Dreams, Buddy." Before quietly taking himself off to bed once again.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

The next day was attacked with renewed vigour by all in the home. They were all brighter eyed and bushier tailed and eager to put everything behind them.

Dexter walked into the kitchen to see Ghastly draped over Tanith and talking to Valkyrie and Skulduggery about what to do that day.

"How about we go ice-skating?" Dexter suggested from the doorway. He hadn't been ice-skating in a while and it reminded him of his sister - it was one of the few things she was allowed to enjoy freely. Valkyrie nodded,

"That's not a bad idea Dex. But would you two be up to it?" She asked looking from Ghastly, who shrugged and nodded saying he'll try it, to Anton who had just arrived at the door frame, also saying he would give it a shot.

"Well that's that then. Ice-skating it is. Also has anyone seen Saracen?" Skulduggery asked after noticing that he was the only one not there.

"Yeah, he was drunk last night so he's asleep in the study or at least should be" Dexter replied. "I'll go check on him."

He sauntered into the study whistling to himself and found Saracen on the sofa still asleep. He shook him gentle and when Saracen murmured Dexter said "Get up Idiot. We're going ice skating." And with that he left Saracen to get up and dressed.

XXXXXXXX

Two hours later, The Dead Men were bundled into the back of Ghastlys van, chatting excitedly about ice skating. The chatter continued all the way to the rink.

They paid to get in rented their skates and were soon on ice.

Twenty minutes later the dead men were all crying at Skulduggery. Ten minutes in, he had demanded that Dexter take him to the middle of the rink which, he had said, would force him to learn quicker. It hadn't worked.

Currently his arms were flailing wildly, almost hitting anyone that came to close. His legs were almost out from under him and he kept alternating between running backwards and forwards. Every so often he would manage to get his balance then try to take a step and it'd start all over again.

On the jouney back home he stated that "Even though I had trouble being upright I still had more grace than all of you put together." To which he got smacked _hard._

XXXXXXXXXXX

They were in their respective rooms when the door bell rang. Valkyrie shouting that'd she'd get it left them all to do what they wanted. Those downstairs heard a faint conversation and after heard the door shut and more than one pair of feet walk into the living room. Two minutes later they all heard Valkyrie shouting "Boys get down here. We've got paying customers."

Naturally the word "paying" had them all intrigued so they wandered down to see.

Dexter was the last to arrive and hadn't looked up from his phone when Valkyrie said "So who is it you'd like our help with?"

Dexter tucked his phone away, pulled up his jeans, looked up and froze. The young woman across from them was small, muscular and heavily tattoos. She had long golden curly hair and shocking green eyes, dressed in black leather and high heeled boots, with a red backless top, she was ethereal.

She looked to where Dexter had stopped moving in shock. Her eyes widened then she smiled. "Dexter so good to see you after 300 years." She stood and smiled at him shakily.

"T.. T...Torn?" He stuttered and charged at her pulling her into a bear hug before breaking down in tears. Shocking every person in the room the siblings wept and didn't let go like they were forced to all those years ago.

XXXXXXXXX

 _Ta for reading let me know if you want more xxx_


	2. Chapter 2

**Imma need someone to give me a reminder every so often so I remember to update**

The Dead Men looked on it shock at the sight of Dexter kneeling on the floor, sobbing into the shoulder of their visitor, who was also teary.

Valkyrie was glancing around at the others and noticing that they were all just as surprised as her, decided to speak up.

"Eh, Dex? You ok?"

Dexter took a shaky breath and nodded, almost to himself, then nodded again, more confidently this time. He took his head off of Torns shoulder, kissed her forehead and turned to kneel beside her instead of infront. Dexter looked up at the others in the room and said "Everybody, meet my long lost little sister, Torn Venite."

"Oh, come on Dex, I'm only fifteen minutes younger than you."

"Don't care. Your still littler than me."

XXXXXXXXXXX

Torn held her hand up and waited for silence since the group were asking so many questions at once, a trick Dexter recognised from their training. Although the memories of those years where bad, he had to admit it worked. Within half a minute the room was silent.

"Right, we will accept three questions, we will not answer any about Neachan yet. Got it? Good." Torn looked at their audience, smiled and turned to Dexter who stated,

"You always were the commanding one, T."

"Shoosh, pest." She fired right back.

To the detectives in the room, it was obvious that the twins were very close, even though they had spent so long apart. It was clear that they still had that bond that twins had. No amount of time could erase the history they had together.

Before anyone could jump in and ask the first question, Valkyrie asked, "How were you seperated?"

The twins looked to each other and instinctively grabbed the chains that hung around their necks.

Torn took a deep breath and started.

"In 1689, when we were around 74, Neachan, our mother, sold him. We were trained as assassins from age 5. She kept us in a shed outside and we were only fed when the servants took pity on us. She expected us to forage for food and kill animals, which being that age, we couldn't do. She hired an assassin that worked for the local Lairds to train us. He was surprisingly kind but sociopathic to be honest. His name was Angus. He taught Dexter how to conjour energy and he brought someone in to teach me how to manipulate the elements. Mother sent him away when she found out. She didn't want us to be able to use our magic but it was enough that we surged. He was the best of the best, even among sorcerers. That meant that she could make a lot of money from us. But she needed to keep one of us to 'rent' out for high prices. The man that bought Dexxy offered Neachan ten times the renting price, it was something she couldn't refuse so away went Dexter, but not before she 'branded' him. Dex show them."

Dexter rolled up his hoodie sleeve and bared the underside of his left arm to them. The scar was long and wide and angry, a sign he'd been scratching at it recently. Torn tools deep breath and turned her arm over to reveal a scar too.

"She branded you too?!" He asked incredulously, grabbing her arm which had a similar scar sticking out proudly.

Torn nodded, "She did it about a week after you were sold." She turned to the others, "She didn't want us to ever be able to get fully away from us. And I still haven't."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU STILL HAVEN'T!!? SHE'S STILL ALIVE?!!" Dexter hollered, angrily getting to his feet. He started pacing the living room, muttering the ways he was going to kill Neachan until Torn yelled at him, "DEXTER _STAD!" (STOP!)_

Immediately, Dexter sat down next to Valkyrie, who grabbed his hand and gave him a look saying ' _We'll talk later_ ' and watched him respond to his twin.

"Ciamar a tha thu fhathast còmhla rithe? Carson nach eil i marbh? Thoir do fhacal piuthar, cuidich mi le bhith ga mhilleadh."(How are you still with her? Why is she not dead? Give me your word sister, help me by destroying her.)

Before Torn could respond, Ghastly spoke up.

"That was Gaelic. But not Irish Gaelic or I could understand it all. No, that was Scottish. Dexter why are you fluent in Scottish Gaelic but not Irish?"

The whole room froze. Dexters shoulders sagged and he sighed loudly.

"Daingead.(Damn it) I'm Scottish. Born and raised. Spent fifty years in Aviemore and twenty-four in Glasgow. But I've spent most of my life in Ireland, hence the accent but yeah we're Scottish."

The silence in the room was palpable. That was, until the sound of engines got really loud. Skulduggery bounced up in a flash, gun in hand stalking towards the front window.

"Wait, wait, wait. I'd appreciate it if you didn't shoot my team, thank you very much." Torn said almost teleporting in front of Skulduggery who, by this point, was being followed by Anton, Dexter and Valkyrie, all ready to fight.

At the word 'team' Dexter whipped his head round and gave her a weird look.

One rev sounded, "There's Zoko." Another rev, this one louder, "There's Camarie." Yet another rev and "There's David." And another "There's Enver." Torn nodded to herself and smiled. "Right on time."

A moment of silence and there was another rev, this time from a car instead of a bike. Her face fell. "That one isn't mine. Dexter. You remember _sgiobair?(Jumper)_ Please tell me you do."

Dexter nodded just as a nock sounded at the door. "Everybody in the kitchen. We'll take care of this." Dexter said as he cracked his knuckles and neck and lay face down on the ground.

"Come in." Torn called out as she too lay face down. The twins left feet were pointed and their right feet were propped on their toes, as if they were getting ready to sprint.

Three heavily armed men entered the room and stood in front of the twins. When the man in the middle looked down confused, something amazing happened.

Torn shouted "Falbh!"(Go!) And all hell broke lose. With perfect synchronicity, Dexter and Torn kicked off with the right foot and flipped over, bringing their full weight down on one heel, that happened to hit two of the men in the shoulders, dislocating them well beyond repair.

Torn spun and kicked and all three men with a surprising strength. Dexter followed up with punches that knocked out many teeth. However, no matter how many times the twins hit the men they wouldn't go down. Eventually , Torn shouted "Cumhachdan."(Powers) Dexter then grabbed a hold of the man closest to him and fired energy out his hands, frying the guy.

Torn clicked her fingers and summoned a flame, and lit the other guy on fire before punching him full force in the nose.

The third guy stood there, bleeding and battered, and stared the twins down. He took a deep breath, as though he was about to make a speech. Torn kicked him so hard in the stomach he peed and Dexter punched him so hard in the face he flew four feet backwards to where he passed out.

Torn turned to her twin, then turned to the group that stood mouths (and jaws) agape and squared her shoulders.

"Who wants to help me kill our Mother, eh?"

 **Xxxxxxxxxxxx**

Finito - the other language is Scots Gaelic.

Would you rather the translation beside the actual sentences as is or at the end of the chapter - your pic


End file.
